Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande said comments about him by ANC national executive committee member Tito Mboweni were “malicious”.

“I’m quite surprised about his statement that he would like to continue doing work with universities ... provided I don’t block him,” Nzimande told Sapa on Thursday.
“I regard this as a malicious statement.”

He was reacting to the former South African Reserve Bank governor’s statement, uploaded on Facebook on Wednesday, clarifying why he asked to be removed from the list of ANC members going to Parliament.

“I will continue to work with universities and pass on my experience to the students,” Mboweni said in the statement. “I very much enjoy this work. If the minister of higher education does not block my nominations, I will also play a role as chancellor or chair of council at one or the other university.”

Nzimande said he was upset that Mboweni had made such a statement publicly, and believed he could have spoken to him personally. “We’ve never had conversations about this before. I don’t appoint chancellors or chairpersons of councils of universities ... so there is no way I would be able to block anybody,” he said.